So This Is Guilt
by Buckhunter The Race Horse
Summary: He felt her arms latch themselves to his form tightly- something he'd only dreamed of, under different circumstances, of course. Mind in a daze at the sound, everything was a blur before he was finally aware of parachuting through the air. He could feel her sobs, feel her racing heartbeat, and he could feel her grief. I wonder...I wonder if this is how she felt after she killed me.


**OptimusPrime2017 presents to you**

**A Pirates of the Caribbean one-shot fanfiction;**

**So This Is Guilt**

"NO! I won't leave you!" Elizabeth _Turner_'s grief stricken cries rang through the tense, wet air as the only living man aboard the ship whom she knew dragged her away from her now dead husband.

"_Part of the ship, part of the crew_." The crew of the _Flying Dutchman _approached them, Bootstrap Bill Turner drawing a knife and another man holding the open chest of Davy Jones.

Captain Jack Sparrow thought quickly, grabbing some rope and the musket of a fallen East India man. The _Dutchman_'s crew had surrounded the body of Will Turner, hiding him from view. He quickly ensured that the rope was secured to a sail that had previously fallen to the deck.

"The _Dutchman_ must have a captain."

Upon hearing those words, he knew it was time to abandon ship. That _and _the bloody thing was to capsize in the maelstrom any moment now.

"Hold on!" He demanded of the sobbing Mrs. Turner, as he hoped with all his heart that his last second idea to save them would work.

He felt her arms latch themselves to his form tightly- something he'd only dreamed of, under different circumstances, of course. He fired the musket with his free arm, the _boom _ringing through his ears. Mind in a daze at the sound, everything was a blur before he was finally aware of parachuting through the air. Relief filled him- it had worked!

He adjusted his grip on the ropes, glancing back down toward the cursed vessel beneath their feet. He watched as the ship's sails vanished beneath the surface of the swirling water, a final splash signaling the defeat of Jones and his crew.

Elizabeth turned and pressed her head into his chest for comfort. He could feel her sobs, feel her racing heartbeat, and he could feel her grief. It made him feel a whole lot worse. He gently pressed his lips to her forehead as he accepted the truth. _It's all my fault...I'm the one who tricked bloody stupid Will onto the _Dutchman _in the first place. I led them right into this mess…_

He knew he lost her to Turner, he realized it the moment she left him to the Kraken. Her grief over the young man only proved it. But it didn't quench his sense of responsibility over her, his guilt, nor the other strong feeling in him- one he'd been refusing to acknowledge. It was love.

But he couldn't have her, especially not now, after everything they've been through. _I wonder...I wonder if this is how she felt after she killed me. _No. _No. No one can think of me that way, not with my reputation. I'm a pirate; a scoundrel; a bloody criminal. No one cares what happens to them. Especially not her...she can't. She has Will. And Norrington- though I haven't heard from him in ages._

He shook his head to clear the thoughts away, looking up to check the condition of the makeshift parachute. It was holding. He glanced down at the grief stricken woman clinging to him for all she had left.

"This is all my fault, Lizzie." He murmured in her ear. "I'm so sorry." _Kill me again, if it helps drive away your pain…_

She looked up at him weakly, a hopeless look in her eyes that made his heart break a million times over. She opened her mouth to say something, but a choked sob escaped instead. She rested her head against him again, closing her eyes. He wanted so desperately to hold her, but that would mean releasing the sail and plummeting the rest of the way to the ocean. He forced himself to refrain from doing just that. There was enough blood on his hands already.

He forced himself to focus on the current happenings: the maelstrom smoothed out, leaving the ocean calm. The _Black Pearl _sailed towards them to help them aboard as soon as they were to hit the surface of the water. Beckett's armanda still stood, waiting. _One ship, and so much lost already...how are we supposed to fight this?_

He and Elizabeth finally plopped into the sea, sinking below a few feet. She still clung to him mercilessly. He pried her off, grasping her arm, and kicked up toward the surface. They burst back up into the clean air. They treaded the water silently, while waiting for the _Pearl _to pick them up.

"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth."

Jack Sparrow's eyes were haunted, both full and void of emotion at the same time, just as they had been when they'd seen Governor Weatherby Swann on the way to the other side.


End file.
